ACTOR Hugh Grant has backed the use of injunctions to protect the private lives of celebrities.

He said privacy was "one of the most basic human rights", and that it should not be removed " just because people have had a bit of success".

The Notting Hill star said the British press have "been completely out of control for the last 20 years".

His comments came amid growing disquiet about use of injunctions and "superinjunctions"-whose very existence cannot be reported - to prevent publication of details about the personal lives of well-known people.

During an appearance on BBC Two's Newsnight, Grant, 50, said: "It's a bit like living under the Stasi. I never know when I haven't got a long lens in the bushes at the end of my road or in a car.

"I've had my phone hacked, I've had the police come and tell me that now. They're always looking for anyone I may have been in contact with."

Grant added that it would be "wonderful" if newspapers went out of business as a result of injunctions.

He said: "It's fabulous that people can go to a judge and stop these things being printed. If it goes on like that, the worst of the tabloids will pretty much go out of business, because there's very little real journalism in those papers.

"It's mainly stealing successful people's privacy and selling it."

He went on to describe the industry watchdog - the Press Complaints Commission - as "the laughing stock of the world" and said governments were too frightened to control newspapers.

He added: "The lawyer will say at the end of a conversation about suing someone, 'You can go to the PCC', then everyone has a laugh about it."